I am of mestizo heritage and identify that way. That said, I don't speak a Nahuatl language, and no one in my family has since the Spanish conquered us. I would like a fantasy book to bring these deities to life for my children, with a little bit of adventure.
That is a beautiful goal.
By the way, have you looked into the imprint Rick Riordan Presents? This sounds like exactly the sort of thing they publish. From Rick Riordan's website:
"Rick Riordan Presents is one small branch of the Disney-Hyperion Publishing family. We aim to publish about four books a year. All these will be books that my editor Stephanie Lurie and I feel will appeal to kids who like my books. In other words, they will probably be some type of middle grade adventure, with lots of humor and action, and probably draw on myth or folklore in some way.
Our goal is to publish great middle grade authors from underrepresented cultures and backgrounds, to let them tell their own stories inspired by the mythology and folklore of their own heritage. Over the years, I’ve gotten many questions from my fans about whether I might write about various world mythologies, but in most cases I knew I wasn’t the best person to write those books. Much better, I thought, to use my experience and my platform at Disney to put the spotlight on other great writers who are actually from those cultures and know the mythologies* better than I do. Let them tell their own stories, and I would do whatever I could to help those books find a wide audience!"
That imprint might be something worth looking into for you and this work.
